By
Crysty Vaughan
By
Crandall Sims

Friday morning residents in the community around Pine Grove school, near Elgin, reacted to the news that 15 year old Devan Williams was dead.

"When it's a child, it's a child. It don't matter who it is, it hurts," says Gloria Wages, also helped search for Williams

Williams was a student at Pine Grove. According to the school's website, it's a residential care facility and school for children ages 6-18 with autism, developmental delays and pervasive developmental disorders.

"People care about the school, they give to the kids, they bring Christmas, they bring holiday stuff, they're there for the kids," says Jones

Jones, who says she previously worked at the school, helped search for Williams Friday. But, the search wasn't the first involving Williams, according to authorities, he went missing two years ago but was found safe.

"He's a runner, that's just the type of kid he is," says Jones.

As for today, the school says in a statement, an alarm went off around 5:30 Friday morning signaling a child was moving. The staff then noticed Williams was gone and called authorities.

Police took to the ground and skies in search of the teen, but a homeowner would make the tragic discovery just before noon.

"She had been in her backyard to check her outbuilding and as she walked by her swimming pool, she found the young man in the bottom of the pool," says Sheriff Jim Matthews, Kershaw County Sheriff's Office.

Williams was dead and tonight the community is grieving.

"It's something you don't want to hear, not as a mother or as a person or anything else," says Jones.

Sheriff Matthews says Williams' parents live in Columbia and he stayed overnight at the school.